Family History

Family History - Page Text Content

S: The McBeth Family

BC: Created by Mooshi

FC: The McBeth Family | Where it all began...

1: This is a photo of my Grandfather, Samuel McBeth, who was born in Ireland and changed his name from MacBeth to McBeth, under the encouragement of his sisters. | There are no photographs of my Grandmother, Winifred (McNamara) McBeth | This is a photo of my Grandparents, Joseph and Catherine (Celi) Bonarrigo, better known as Ma & Pa. They were born in Italy and came to America on a ship. Neither of them spoke the English language.

2: My father, William Patrick McBeth was born on March 10, 1922. He had one older brother, Samuel Joseph and a younger sister, Dorothy. He had several half siblings from his mother's first marriage. His father was a roofer and he smelled like tar. When his father was in WWI, he was shot and they thought he was dead so they put him in a pile with other dead men...but he wasn't dead, somebody saw him move and he survived, but was never the same. He died in 1938. He recalls his mother as a hard worker, a good cook and she liked a clean house. He remembers having to go to the hospital to give her a transfusion and she died of cancer in 1938. He remembers going to John Boyle O'Reilly Elementary School, John A. Andrews School and the Mather School in Dorchester. He remembers smoking cigarettes at age 12 and taking his first drink of hot toddy (for colds) at age 12. Also, occasionally sipping a drink of warm beer. His first paying job was for the city of Boston, shoveling snow at the age of 16. He remembers seeing TV for the first time in North Station on display. He remembers seeing Shirley Temple movies and The Phantom of the Opera. He didn't have a whole lot of friends growing up because he moved around so often. He remembers John Callahan and Eddie Edwards of South Boston. He always wanted to marry and wanted to continue his education. He attended The Mechanic Arts School in Boston and wanted to become a tool maker, but he needed to work and couldn't afford the money for school.

3: My mother, Stella Josephine Bonarrigo and her twin brother Joseph were born on April 15, 1928. She had several other siblings: Steve, Leo, Mary, Sam, Joseph (her twin), and Betty. She also had several half siblings from her parent's previous marriages. Her father worked for the WPA in Boston, and he also worked in the paper mill. He died in 1947. She remembers her mother having a big vegetable garden and never went to the grocery store, she made everything from scratch. She died in 1964. She remembers having baby chicks in the kitchen and when the chicks were old enough for the hen house, she would gather the eggs in a basket so her sister Mary could sell them door to door. She remembers going to Hyde Park High School. Her first paying job was working at a laundromat with her father, when she was 14 years old, and she would run the presser. She remembers smoking cigarettes at age 18 and seeing TV for the first time at her brother Leo's house. Her closest friend growing up was Rita McNealy and Helen Billios. She always wanted to marry and become a Court Stenographer and she hoped one day she would have four children.

4: "Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever."

5: My father entered the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC's) in 1939 in Holyoke, MA. The CCC's was run half by the Army and half by the State. He signed up in Boston, then took a train to Holyoke. He lived in barracks, like the Army. They would help clear the hurricane of 1938, which knocked down trees, clearing up the mess and building dams. He stayed in the CCC's almost 3 years and left to work at a defense plant in Holyoke. He was in a restaurant in Holyoke having breakfast when he first heard about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

6: During the Great Depression, when people laughed, their troubles disappeared.

7: My mother remembers having several boyfriends and was dating Ralph Abbot when she met my Dad in 1947 at the soda/sandwich counter at South Station. One of her customers who came into South Station frequently asked her if she could type and said she was looking for a billing/typist clerk. My mother said "yes, she could type", and she went to work at H.W. Whittemore as a clerk typist. She worked there for 2 years and eventually went to work at the Statler Hilton Hotel as a typist.

8: 10th Armored Division 61st Armored Infantry Battalion

9: Sergeant William P. McBeth

11: My Dad entered the Army on December 9, 1942. His basic training lasted 6 months and took place at Fort Benning, Georgia. He first went to France, and later to Germany, England, Scotland, Iceland and Belgium. He was a Sergeant in the 10th Armored Division, 61st Armored Infantry Battalion, attached to the 101st Air Borne Division. He was first injured outside Belgium in his stomach. He recuperated for a couple of weeks and later returned to Belgium. It wasn't long before he was injured again in the Consdorf, Luxembourg area, on or around December 18, 1944 and he lost his third finger on his left hand. He went to England to recuperate and on January 4, 1945 he was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received in action. He later returned to Camp Edwards in Cape Cod.

12: There is only one happiness in life, to love and to be loved.

18: They went on their honeymoon to Lake Winnipesaukee and stayed at Allen A Campground.

19: My Mom worked at The Statler Hilton Hotel in Boston. | My Dad worked at the United Carr Fastener in Cambridge.

20: Jean Marie McBeth born October 3, 1956

23: Carole Ann McBeth born December 23, 1960

24: Live in peace and peace will live in you.

25: It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

27: You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.

28: Everybody has difficult years, but a lot of times the difficult years end up being the greatest years of your whole entire life.

29: People are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.

30: There's a special kind of closeness that only families know, that begins with childhood trust and deepens as you grow. There's a special kind of happiness in sharing little things, the laughter, smiles, and quiet talks that daily living brings. There's a special kind of comfort in knowing your family's there, to back you up, to cheer you up, to understand and care. Of all the treasures life may bring, your family means the most, and whether near or far apart, that love will hold you close.

32: “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

34: Nobody gets to live their life backwards. Look ahead, that's where your future lies.

35: Our most treasured family heirlooms are our sweet family memories.

36: Live, Love, Laugh, and be Happy

37: You gotta dance like nobody's watching, dream like you will live forever, live like you're going to die tomorrow, and love like it's never going to hurt.

40: Chr | Christopher William Vasques born July 1, 1982

42: Jennifer Lyn Campagna born December 7, 1982

44: Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.

45: Sabrinna Jean Vasques born December 16, 1984

47: Nicholas Sergio Vasques born April 26, 1987

48: Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.

49: The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

50: A person has three choices in life. You can swim against the tide and get exhausted, or you can tread water and let the tide sweep you away, or you can swim with the tide, and let it take you where it wants you to go.

51: Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive.

54: We all live with the objective of being happy, our lives are all different and yet the same.

55: Emily Ann Clark born October 28, 1996

56: Being a family means you are part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved the rest of your life. No matter what.

57: Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.

58: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”

59: This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime

60: Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.

61: One day at a time - this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.

62: Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.

63: It's never too late to be who you might have been.

64: And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

65: The path of life takes us in many different directions, but we will always remember where we began......

66: Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.

67: If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.